What You Need to Learn about Mobile Marketing, Right Now.

Mobile web adoption is growing 8 times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s and early 2000s.

One in three mobile searches have local intent versus one in five on desktop computers.

Meaning people perform different types of searches depending on the device they are using and where they are. Given the mobile growth rate, brick-and-mortar companies really need to evaluate their mobile strategy.

What is mobile marketing?

The definition according to the Mobile Marketing Associationis, 'Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.'

Mobile marketing consists of the following marketing mediums:

Organic Mobile Marketing (vs. Advertising)

It always amazes me that when people talk about marketing, they really seem to mean advertising. Marketing is much more than advertising and when we think of mobile marketingin the local space, we primarily think of 3 big buckets.

• Local Mobile Search: Making sure you rank on searches on mobile devices means optimizing for Google Places and local directories and apps where 50% of local searches occur

• Mobile Website Optimization: Mobile optimization means that your website looks great on a mobile device, loads in under 3 seconds (or 60%), and is location aware. Links to social and reputation sites are helpful as well.

• Mobile Content Distribution: Distributing local deals and announcements to mobile content networks is extremely effective in generating local interest and engagement from location based content.

Mobile Advertising

• App-based marketing: While you can build your own mobile app, generally that doesn't make sense for brick-and-mortar businesses. You can also engage with services like GoogleAdMob to create mobile ads that appear within third-party mobile apps.

• In-game mobile marketing: Mobile ads appear within mobile games.

• QR codes: QR is short for Quick Response and is a unique two dimensional code. When read by a QR reader, the code takes the person to a specific URL.

• Location-based marketing: Location-based ads appear on mobile devices based on a user's location relative to a specific area.

• Mobile search ads: Ads that appear within a mobile search, based on key terms.

• Mobile image ads: These ads similar to traditional text ads but are image based.

According to a 2014 Pew Internet study, 42% of Americans own a tablet and 58% own a smartphone, and these numbers are growing quickly. During the third quarter of 2013, over a quarter of a billion units (smartphone or tablet) shipped worldwide! This means it's critical to get your mobile marketing strategy in place.

Key Findings and Takeaways from the Infographic

• 33% of businesses are NOT using mobile marketing

• Almost 50% of businesses plan to increase their mobile marketing budget this year

• 33% of businesses allocate less than an hour per week on mobile marketing

• Most popular mobile marketing medium is having a mobile website

• The 3 biggest hurdles

• 17% being time requirements

29% cite lack of budget

• A whopping 32% say they do not have the 'know-how'

Below are some other interesting mobile facts that should be noted:

• Most popular mobile operating system is Android

• 1 in 7 people worldwide own a smartphone, with more people owning one everyday

• 67% of smartphone and tablet users access a social network from a mobile device

• U.S. Social Media Ad revenues are expected to reach $11 billion by 2017

• Most popular apps based on mobile audience reach are:

• Facebook 74%

• Google Play 53%

• Google Search 53%

• YouTube 49%

• Pandora Radio 49%

Based on these mobile trends, companies need to embrace mobile marketing now, otherwise they risk losing a portion of their sales to a more technology advanced competitor.

The post The State of Mobile MarketingLocalVox

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